Lamp-door fastening



April 26, 1927.

I veq ['or. Car/Cj E. God e c. E GODLEY LAMP DOOR FASTENING Filed April 12, 1925 Patented Apr. 26, 1927.

UNITED STATES rezaaes PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES E. GODLEY, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, ']'.0 C. M. HALL LAMP COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF MICHIGAN.

LAMP-DOOR FASTENING.

Application filed April 12, 1926. Serial No. 101,368.

My invention relates to means for fastening a lens-carrying door to a lamp body or casing so as to maintain a tight seal between the lens and the reflector of the lamp. In some of its general objects, my invention aims to provide a simple and inexpensive resilient fastening arrangement which will afford a substantially *hinging connection at one edge portion of the door, and which can also be employed with an equal'spring pressure in connection with a screw-type fastening at another edge portion of the door. Furthermore, my invention provides an easily assembled fastening for this purpose which will readily permit the employment of a simple spiral spring and in which the spring-thrust-resisting member is retained on the lamp body by the action of the spring.

More particularly, my invention provides resilient fastenings suitable for use with lamp doors designed to be sleeved upon tubular mouth-end parts of lamp casings. where automobile headlights have heretofore been constructed in this manner (as shown for example in my copending application No. 88,748, filed January 25, 1926, on a headlight construction) it has been customary to employ springs formed of flat metal. In practice, each such spring bends mostly at a certain point intermediate its length and hence crystallizes and breaks at this point in a relatively short time. Moreover, such springs ,vary considerably in resiliency, even when taken from a lot of du plicate springs manufactured at the same time, so that they will not readily insure a balanced pressure on various peripheral portions of the door, and the resulting unequal pressure often cracks the lens. To overcome this difliculty, my invention pro vides a construction employing spiral springs which can readily be manufactured in exact duplication of each other and at lower cost than springs formed of flat metal, and which will avoid the breaking since the flexing is distributed with fair uniformity over almost the entire length of the springs.

Another object-ion encountered with the heretofore employed springs formed of flat metal lies in the difficulty of assembling the parts and in the tendency of such springs to snap out of their normal positions. My present invention overcomes this by disposing the spring so that it will cooperate with a simple and cheap .guide member, such as a spring cotter, in retaining both the spring and the spring-thrust-receiving member in position, without requiring the latter memher to be riveted or otherwise secured to the lamp body.

Still further and also more detailed ob- JQCiS will appear from the accompanying drawings, in which- 1 is a central, vertical and longitudinal section through the forward portion of an automobile headlight including two en'ibodiments of my invention, with a part of the reflector broken away to show how the reflector flange is resiliently pressed away from the flange on the lamp body.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the latching member used in connection with the upper spring in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of an upper portion of the forward part of the lamp body, showing the perforations through which the latch finger and the spring cotter respectively extend.

Fig. 4 is a bottom view of the lower portion of the door and of the adjacent part of the lamp body, showing the screw fastenmg portions.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged section taken along the line 5-5 of Fig. 4. I

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the bottom portion of the lamp body adjacent to this screw fastening, showing the body perforation through which one arm of the lower spring-thrust-receiving member extends.

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary section similar to the upper portion of Fig. 1, showing my invention as employed in a lamp in which the door is not limited as to rearward move ment by engagement with a shoulder on the lamp body, and in which the reflector seats on the body flange. i

In the illustrated embodiment, the body of the lamp has its casing 1 provided near its mouth with an inwardly directed radial flange 2 which is connected by a forwardly extending tubular portion 3 with a more forward and inwardly directed radial shelf 4. The reflector 5 has a peripheral radial flange 5 disposed in front of the shelf 4 and connected to the latter by any suitable means; as for example, by a. guide screw 6 carried by the shelf and slidably guiding the reflector flange, which screw also guides a spring 34 interposed between the shelf and extending; tubular rim portion 11 formed at its rearend so as to engage. the body Tings 2 and so as to sleeve upon the tubular l dy nr For these latterpurposes I desirably recurve the rear end of the rim 11 as shown in F1, so that its extreme end part is directed forwardly.

The lamp body has a pheriph'eral slot 12 in the tubular portion 3 and this slot may eiitezn'd partially into the shelf 4, as shown in Fig. 3. Projecting through the slot 12 isa latching arm 13 at the forward end of a latching ineni'ber which has its main portion 14: extending longitudinally of the lamp body within the latter and which has at the rear end of this portion 1 1 an integral thrust arm 15 extending radially inward of .the lamp and normally parallel to the shelf 4. inter osed between the thrust arm 15 and the shelf 4 is a spiral spring 16 which is initially formed of greater length than the, distance between the said thrust arm and shelf and hence is under compression when thus interposed. To prevent the spring from slipping out of its said position, I provide suitable retaining means associated. with the said shelf and thrust arm, such as a spring cotter extending, through a perforation 17 in. the shelf and through a corresponding perforation in the thrust arm, this cotter being inserted from the front through thesaid perforations until its e e 32 engages the shelf 4 and the rear ends of the cotter heingthen spread apart behind the thrust arin 1.5. Both of the perforations are preferably disposed radially outward of the lamp from the axis of the spring, as shown in 1, so that the spring tends to rock the latching member about the engagement of the latching arm with the door, and also presses the rear end of the main part 14:. of this member against the casing side 1 of the body.

For the companion door fastening. 1 shows a bracket having one arm 18 disposed inside the rim port-ion 11 of the lens ring and secured to the latter by a rivet 185, this arm beingextended to support a clip 19 whieb secures one edge of the lens to the lens ring. This arm forms part of abracket which has another ariii2O eiitending through the 1m 11 radially of the lastin and pen "f'oiated reeeiyiii g the larger'diam'etered cyhndrlea'l portion 21 of a screw which is threaded into an arm 22 ofthe companion who: v e Z-.JJ\\ "i: l thrust-receiymg nember. This latter member also 'z-siiap ed in longitildiiial seams and has its said arm projecting through a slot 23 in the casing side 1 adjacent to the flange 2 of the body. This lower thrust-re eeiring member also includes a main portion 38 extending rearwardly within the lamp casing side 2 and provided at its rear end i h a t l-irust-receiving arm 24. A compression spring 25 is interposed between this arm 2% and the body shelf 4t so as to press the entire lower thrust-receiving member rearwardly and against the casing side 2, and a spring cotter 26 extends throi'igh the bore of the spring below the axis of thelatter and through both the shelf 4 and the thrust arm 2 1 to retain the spring in its said disposition. The screw has its threaded portion .27 connected to its larger diametered shank portion 21 by an annular shoulder 28 which limits the extent to which the screw can be screwed tl'irough the arm 22 and the shank portion 21 has means for preventing the screw from being separated from the arm 20 which is carried by the door. For this latter purpose I am showing a split ring- 29 as clinched into a groove in th'e shank portion 21.

Vvhen the door is attached as in Fig. 1, the hooking engagement of the latching arm 18 ofthe upper thrust-receiving; member with the reeurmd rear edge portion of "the rim 11 of the lens ring draws the latter rearwardly at the top. At the same time, the act-1011 of the lower spring forces the lower thrust-receiving member rearwardly and the threaded connection of the lower screw with the arm 22 of that member causes the head 30 of the screw to engage the door arm 20 so as to draw the lk iwe'r part of the door rearward'ly also. Hence the door, which slides on the tubular partfi of the body, is pressed rearwardly to hold the ifecuii-ved rear end of the lens ring s the shoulder 2 on the body. The springs compensate for variations in the sizes/of different parts or their assembfj In detaching the hump, the unscrewin of the screw from the arm 22 of the lot er t hrust receiving member causes the split ring 29 on the screw to engage the'door alrin 21). thereby forcing the lower edge of "the lens r'uiajolt the casii'ig and overcomingany tendency of the lens ring to stick on the casing. It also rocks the on 're door about the rec rved rear end of the ii in of the leiis ring at the top of the lamp, after the main her of a hinged connection. The door is then swung about this si'ibstantiallj hing nir connebtioii until the lower part or the lens ring clears the refiecasr, after which the door is It -ed to nake its upper reamed rim portion area; the latching; arm 13. The upper siring 16 theirforcsthe upper :it'ching membermammary until the an 13 fiiiijages the ire'ar edge of the the slot 12. Heats-lily arrangement girth-ass an arena hinge-type mounting for an easily detachable and resiliently supported door.

Both of the thrust-receiving members are supported for freedom of movement and each is prevented from lateral movement by the engagement of its outwardly directed arm with the sides of the slot (12 or 23) through which it projects, while in each case the spring cooperates with the spring cotter to retain the thrust-receiving memher in its operative position. By using spiral springs, which can easily be made with a high degree of uniformity, I reduce the cost and also secure the desired equalizing of the pressure on different parts of the door, and by eliminating rivets or other fastenings between the thrust-receiving members and the body I simplify and cheapen the assembling.

However, I do not wish to be limited to the details of construction and arrangement above disclosed, as changes might obviously be made without departing either from the spirit of my invention or from the appended claims.

Neither do I wish to be limited to the use of my invention in connection with a lamp in which the reflector is movable with respect to the body and in which the door is limited as to its rearward movement by a shoulder on the body. For example, Fig. 7 shows a section (similar to the upper portion of Fig. 1) of a part of a lamp in which the reflector flange 5 seats on the body shelf 4 and in which the body has no shoulder to limit the rearward movement of the door. In this case, the action of the spring through the latching member draws the door rearwardly to clamp the reflector flange, packing ring and lens between the shelf 4 and the lens-engaging edge of the lens ring.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a lamp, a forwardly open body having its month end contracted to afford a tubular part connected to the main portion of the lamp body by a radial flange, the body also having a shelf extending radially inward from the forward end of the said tubular part; a door having a rim portion contracted at its rear end to afford a rear end part sleeved upon the said tubular body part and engaging the said radial flange,

the said tubular part having an aperture adjacent to the contracted rear end rim portion of the door; a latching member comprising a latching finger extending through the said aperture substantially radially of the lamp in front of the said rear end rim portion, a shank extending rearwardly from the inner end of the latching finger, and a thrust arm extending radially of the lamp body from the rear end of the said shank; a compression spring interposed between the said shelf and the thrust arm of the latching member for continuously urging the latching member rearwardly so as to cause the latching finger to draw the said rear end rim portion of the door against the said radial flange; and retaining means interposed between the latching member and the shelf for retaining the latching member in its said disposition.

2. In a lamp, a forwardly open body provided with a radial shelf and having a lateral aperture adjacent to the shelf; a door sleeved upon the lamp body; a substantially Z-shaped latching member having one end arm extending through the said aperture and in front of a part of the door, the latching member having its other arm extending radially inward of the body and having its intermediate portion disposed longitudinally of the body; a compression spring interposed between the said other arm of the latching member and the said shelf for continuously urging the latching member rearwardly; and means associated with the said other arm of the latching member for retaining the spring in its said disposition.

3. A lamp construction as per claim 2, in which the lateral wall of the body is disposed for engaging the latching member at the juncture of the-shank and thrust arm of the latter, and in which the spring is disposed for holding the said juncture against the said body wall.

4. A lamp construction as per claim 2, in which the compression spring is of a spiral type, and in which the said means comprise a retaining member extending through the bore of the spring, the shelf, and the thrust arm of the latching member Signed at Detroit, Michigan, March 17th,

CHARLES E. GODLEY. 

